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The New Moon in Leo officially begins today at 5:51PM ET, offering us an opportunity to re-set intentions and goals for the next lunar cycle. Around the 14th, on the First Quarter Moon, we can expect a challenge to those goals, with appropriate adjustments made. At the time of the Full Moon on the 20th, we can expect illumination on the success or failure of our goals for the cycle. If we succeeded, we can consciously release our success into our reality; if we failed, we let go of whatever did not work. After the Third Quarter Moon on the 28th, we can review our achievements, tie up loose ends and get ready to begin another New Moon on September 5th.

This New Moon occurs at 14 degrees of Leo, where its need for drama, love and other forms of recognition will likely find expression in groups, perhaps also through a maternal influence. Freedom of expression is a lingering theme, with an added layer of “healer, heal thyself”. The Sabian Symbol for this lunation suggests plenty of opportunities to pull out all the stops in all matters of creative expression seeking recognition. It is this: “a pageant”. Examples of a pageant, notes Sabian Symbol guru Blain Bovee, include the outrageous carnival of a Mardi Gras, marked by wretched excess and exultation. Adding to the potential for celebratory overload is a pattern noted yesterday: expansive Jupiter, seeking its reward in whatever fosters homeland and emotional security….opposed by powerful Pluto in the sign of the Established Order. But wait, there’s more — and that would be the windfall opportunity suggested by Jupiter’s upcoming square to Uranus. Sudden disruptions of the status quo, for better or worse, that lead to sweeping change…

You will feel this surge of creative expression and celebration more personally if you have a planet or point at around 14 degrees of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius. Opportunities for transformational expansion are suggested by the Jupiter-Pluto-Uranus square if you have a planet or point around 8-13 degrees of Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn.

I don’t know about you, but everyone around me has been particularly giddy this morning, true to the spirit of the Leo Moon’s need for play. Once the New Moon is exact at 5:51PM ET (light a candle; set your intentions), it then goes void of course until 11:57PM ET — tomorrow night. That’s a looooong rest period. Time for a party or what? But y’know, that’s the spirit of this New Moon — just be careful your backyard BBQ grill does not tip over and set the house on fire. Or explode. You can have too much of a good thing, including creative self-expression, as this timely article on America’s narcissism crisis explains. Once the Moon is in detail-conscious, perfection seeking Virgo on Thursday, then proceed to launch an agenda that is intended to take form, as opposed to just taking the stage.

In the news — following up on yesterday’s note about the Jupiter-Pluto opposition suggesting big news in the publishing world — how fascinating it was to see the Washington Post being bought by Amazon, and just a few days ago the owner of the Boston Red Sox bought the Boston Globe. Jupiter-Pluto-Uranus also suggests resources, including nuclear power, and I am totally bummed to report that the situation in Fukushima continues to worsen — and it does so every time there’s a trigger to the Uranus-Pluto square by a faster-moving planet. Last month it was the Sun and Mars; this month, Jupiter and Venus; the first week in October it’ll be the Sun; the first week in November it’ll be the fourth of seven exacts Uranus-Pluto square.

What else does Jupiter-Pluto suggest? Big news in sports…and everyone is dishing about the doping scandal in Major League Baseball, which includes its highest-paid player, a.k.a. A-Rod of the NY Yankees. We do not have a birth time for A-Rod (known birth data here), but let the record show that his proud Leo Sun was just smacked down by a square from stern Saturn. And while we are on the subject of stern Saturn smackdowns, let the record also show that a frequent subject of this forecast, Dominque Straus-Kahn, was recently charged with pimping after Saturn’s third opposition to DSK’s Taurus Sun.

Wanna see some cool outer space stuff, also suggested by current planetary patterns? Even the Mars Curiosity rover is in a celebratory mood. Here is a video of it singing “Happy Birthday” to itself, presumably not in violation of any copyright laws on the Red Planet. Happy birthday, Curiosity!

You can bounce out of bed with Moon still in opinionated Sagittarius, supported by a constructive connection to disciplined Saturn at 7:08AM ET. That can help launch you into action — or at least a grounded philosophical discussion. Note Moon goes void at 6:21PM ET on a challenge from aggressive Mars in perfectionist Virgo, so try to engage your brain before flying off the handle because you’re finding fault with the way someone decided to get things done.

Speaking of Mars, today is the last full day of Mars in Virgo, where it has been all year long — and feeling like since forever before that. Is your work routine now perfected? Is your life completely organized? How about your office? Your diet? Your workout routine? Good, because when Mars enters Libra at 8:32AM ET on Tuesday, we can apply our assertive energy to bringing our perfected work to the public. Or focus it on a relationship. We’ll be working towards fairness, justice, equality and being appreciated. Being balanced will become more of a priority than being perfectly efficient and organized.

Moon enters “make it happen” Capricorn at 6:51PM ET, with all of that proactive, authoritative energy building to emotional fullness at 2:52PM ET on Tuesday. Hmmm…another Full Moon…that’ll be the topic for tomorrow’s forecast. That, and Julian Assange…by special request.

And now, the news. As anticipated, we saw some big break-ups in the headlines on Friday. Break-up #1: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are divorcing. We don’t have an exact birth time for Cruise, but Katie Holmes was born on December 18, 1978 at 9:32PM in Toledo Junction, OH. In March we see the last of three exact hits by rebel Uranus (which rules her house of partnerships) to her natal Mars (willpower), suggesting a need for freedom in self-expression, matters relating to children and in matters of the higher mind (e.g., religion, law and other belief systems). Also in March we see ruthless Pluto making a challenging aspect to the area of her horoscope relating to her home and family, as well as personal identity. Thus we anticipate a transformation or breakdown leading to empowerment. Isn’t that interesting? Finally: another measurement (solar arc Sun = ASC, for the students and pros reading this), suggesting being seen for who one truly is — and that was exact on May 30th. No surprise at all that the divorce was filed by Holmes, not by Cruise. .

Break-up #2: Dominique Strauss-Kahn, whose horoscope we have been following for over a year in this forecast (in the archives here and here and here), has separated from his wife, according to a French tabloid. DSK just experienced the second hit of ruthless Pluto to his Midheaven, which suggests a major change in areas of career and family status. However, this story is far from over, as more hits are in store through 2013. As the New York Times reported, the couple would neither confirm nor deny the tabloid’s story. They are, however, suing the tabloid. Stay tuned.

The point here is not to chatter mindlessly about celebrity couples going through difficult times. The point is to show how astrology can be used to help us understand phases of development and events that can happen in our own lives.

A more active day than Monday, driven by a need for intensity, information and perhaps entertainment, given the Moon’s ingress into chatty Gemini at 6:43 AM ET. If you feel like you’re living inside a kaleidoscopic pinball machine, credit the Moon making contact with dreamy Neptune, eccentric/inventive Uranus and aggressive Mars, all within the space of six hours. Some of the ideas tossed around may be genius; others may be half-baked or just plain wrong. Sounds like a great day for brainstorming creative thoughts. Double check your facts before you hit send!

One example of a half-baked idea hitting the wires happened on Friday, when the Wall Street Journal reported that Jon Corzine, former governor of New Jersey and former head of now-defunct and scandalized company MF Global, signed off on a memo authorizing the use of client funds to cover a company shortfall — a big no-no in the financial world. Ooh! Could this be a smoking gun? Not at all, apparently — so stop the presses! On Monday, a clarification was issued: Mr. Corzine did not — repeat, did NOT know the transferred funds were from client accounts. http://nocera.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/hype-at-the-wall-street-journal/?scp=3&sq=jon%20corzine&st=cse Moral of the story: you might not be interested in banking or finance, but this scenario is a good illustration of the dangers of believing everything you hear when Mercury is retrograde. Thanks to those of you who have sent in stories of communication, technical and scheduling snafus happening in your own personal worlds.

Meanwhile, Dick Cheney’s heart wasn’t the only one making headlines over the weekend. Also reflecting the symbolism of the Sun (heart) hooking up with Uranus (technology/breakthroughs) was this bit about a man in Washington State who now has an artificial heart that is actually portable http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017810967_heart24m.html

Finally, because we’ve been following this story since it broke in May and knew we’d be seeing more drama beginning this Spring: Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund who was arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a New York chambermaid last year when Uranus, disruptor of the status quo, challenged DSK’s Moon (an extremely important planet in a horoscope), has just been charged with involvement in a prostitution ring http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/26/dominique-strauss-kahn-charged-prostitution-ring The timing of these charges is perfectly aligned with patterns in the horoscope, and more disruptive challenges can be anticipated for DSK through early 2013.